By GB News (World News) | Created at 2025-01-02 13:41:05 | Updated at 2025-01-04 23:20:26
2 days ago
The farmer behind a viral protest song about the inheritance tax changes has revealed the meaning behind his lyrics, which serve as a clear warning to Sir Keir Starmer.
Nick Tarry's song comes against a fraught backdrop. Extreme factions within the farming community are reportedly planning to block supermarket distribution centres with tractors as soon as mid-January in response to the inheritance tax changes.
The escalation follows the Government's decision, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her first Budget, to impose a 20 per cent inheritance tax on farmers' assets valued over £1million, which previously enjoyed tax breaks designed to facilitate the transfer of family farms across generations.
Thousands of farmers and hundreds of tractors descended on Westminster shortly after the announcement, putting pressure on the Government to change course.
Tarry felt inspired to write down what he was feeling following the first protest in November
YouTube
Many farmers, including Tarry, insist that their farms are "asset rich but cash poor", meaning that they have valuable land and assets but limited liquid funds.
The proposed taxes could, therefore, force them to sell off their land and machinery, preventing them from passing down their legacy to future generations.
In the face of growing unrest, Starmer refuses to back down, arguing that slapping 20 per cent death duties on farmers’ assets over £1million was a "fair and balanced" approach to fill the £22billion black hole left by the last government.
Farmers show no sign of backing down either, threatening a "complete shutdown" should the Government continue with its plans.
Tarry from Northamptonshire personally does not support blockading supermarkets as he "doesn't to annoy the public" so he decided to get his point across another way.
Tarry, who has "always used music as an outlet", felt inspired to write down what he was feeling following the first protest in November.
"I didn't get anything up on YouTube until nearly Christmas because it soon became apparent with the lyrics and the words that I'd made that it was sort of being sung from a kid's point of view or the next generation's point of view. And I thought, you know what I've got to do here? I've got to turn this into a video and make it more of a bigger thing," he told GB News.
Despite the song's upbeat and child-friendly tone, the lyrics are anything but.
At one point, Tarry sings: "I wanna be a farmer, like my dad. But Keir Starmer wants to take our land. Your Government will crumble but the damage will be done. You're gonna get burned when you fly too close to the sun."
Since Tarry uploaded his video on YouTube 10 days ago, it has already garnered 74,000 views
YouTube/NickTarry
"It was a fun project to do, but it has a very serious underlying message," he told GB News.
Tarry says he's "only scraping by" so the tax changes would be devastating.
The public appears sympathetic to his plight. Since Tarry uploaded his video on YouTube 10 days ago, it has already garnered 74,000 views.
His son features heavily in the video, thrashing out the drums as Tarry churns the land in his tractor and tends to his cattle.
Powerful lyrics at the bottom of the screen accompany the images of everyday farm life.
"Our family has been farming for more than a century. How is it fair to take my choices away from me?" Tarry screams into the mic.
